My Poverty Immersion Experience (3): Healing Community

Some of you may have a problem with what I’m about to say. I’m not a fan of receiver services. In the first entry of this series, I mentioned how there is a big difference between being for someone and with someone. There is great power in community.

On the first evening of our experience, I met Mike at a local soup kitchen. Mike was smiling from ear to ear…he had just got a job. Now whenever I receive good news, I call my wife –we might even go out to dinner to celebrate. Next I’ll call my parents and other family members and maybe post something on Facebook and Twitter. I’ll tell others at church too; I will not run short on congrats. But Mike just had me…a stranger in a soup kitchen.

And so his joy became mine. I was now smiling ear to ear.

You see, most of us have relied on our community quite a bit. Our parents for comfort, guidance, and…oh yeah…college! We’ve relied on our significant others for encouragement when we were feeling blue, and a “go get em” when we had that big test or job interview. We’ve had friends when we were feeling lonely, or to celebrate our big day.

Who did Mike have? He had me…and only for that night on that weekend. There’s a difference between being for someone and with someone. Who are you with?